CA2870231C - Device having a manual pump for packaging and dispensing fluid products - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for packaging and dispensing fluid products. The device, which has a manual pump (2) mounted on a bottle (1) or a bag (5) containing the product to be dispensed, comprises a removable element (11) inserted between the pump (2) and the neck of the bottle (1), as well as a stopper (13) secured to the pump (2), which is capable of closing the circuit for the passage of the product to be dispensed between the inside of the flask (1) and the pump (2) when the removable element (11) is in place. The invention can be used for improving preservation during the storage of the product contained in the bottle or bag.

Description

DEVICE FOR PACKAGING AND DISPENSING FLUID PRODUCTS
MANUAL PUMP
Field The present invention relates to an improved packaging device and of distribution of fluid products, and more particularly a device ensuring the perfect .5 conservation of the fluid contained in the bottle between the filling and the first use.
State of the art We know that keeping fluids safe from the outside environment contained in dispensing devices is an important condition for preservation of their composition, their characteristics and consequently their activity, in especially for pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. If the duration of use by the patient is generally quite brief, a few weeks or even a few days, the period of storage of these devices between their filling at the place of production and their first use after being put on the market is much longer. The flasks can be stored for several months or even several years in conditions sometimes unfavorable for good conservation. We know that the direct contact with the outside environment can have very harmful consequences on the product stability contained inside such devices due, in particular, to oxidation caused by oxygen in the air, microbial contamination or even evaporation of active substances or solvents present in the formulation.
To avoid this direct contact with the outside environment, many devices were which allow, during the use phase, to extract the device product without air entering inside, in contact with the product remaining in the device. These devices are generally referred to as "airless".
Packaging and distribution devices for fluid products known generally have a rigid shell container in which a piston pushing the product towards the inlet port in the dosing chamber and insulation the air that penetrates below the piston. There are also known devices rigid container in which is placed a flexible deformable pocket which retracts as and as that the product is extracted from it. The product remaining in the pocket is kept at sheltered from the air, while the expulsion of the product out of the pocket can be obtained by means of a pump without air intake, or "airless".

2 In all cases a vent is provided, generally in the bottom or in the neck of bottle, to allow outside air to enter the space between the bottom of bottle and the plunger or between the bottle and the bag each time the pump and allow the piston to move or the pocket to retract in now a sufficient pressure on their walls. An example of realization following this technique is described in patent FR 2,723,356 relating to a device comprising a material pocket flexible plastic, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, in a container rigid whose neck has an air inlet.
Another example of a pocket bottle is described in patent FR 2,827,844 relating to a device comprising a flexible waterproof pouch placed in a rigid bottle, associated with a pump, in which the pocket comprises a cylindrical wall constituted by leaf metallic or plastic wrapped around the edges of two flanges one of which forms the bottom of the pocket and the other a ring for fixing to the bottle and the pump.
The operating principle of the dosing pumps used in such dispensing devices for fluid, liquid or pasty products is good known. A pump manual dispenser is generally mounted on a bottle containing the product to be distribute and it consists of a metering chamber having a determined volume, of a piston likely to move in the room under the action of a pusher, and at least two valves. The lower valve, or intake valve, located at the entrance to the room and controlling the communication with the inside of the bottle, is closed when the push is pressed while the upper valve, at the exit of the chamber, is open, letting pass the product expelled from the chamber by the displacement of the piston, then, when the pusher is released, the piston rises in the chamber under the action of a spring, the upper valve closes while the lower flap opens, allowing the filling of the room in .. view of a new distribution of a dose of product.
The pumps generally associated with flexible bags must ensure good sealing and able to function whatever the position, vertical or tilted, from bottle. Patent FR 2,669,379 describes a metering pump providing good sealing even in the event of a change of position, of the axial piston type carrying a floating piston sliding, with three flaps. Patent FR 2,731,992 describes a bottle distributor whose plunger is combined with a fixed piston integral with the bottle for build a pump.
Another example of an airless pump is described in application VVO 04/054721 relating to a pump for pocket bottle.
Sealing devices exist to prevent air from entering in the nozzle pump outlet and cannot degrade the product in this nozzle after each actuation of the pump by the user. For example the FR patent 2,785,878

3 describes a manual pump dispenser, the outlet nozzle of which is provided with a shutter itself automatically closing when the pump is at rest.
All these devices offer a satisfactory level of protection during the phase use of the product, the duration of which is generally short.
However, certain physico-chemical processes contribute to the degradation of products contained in the bottles, such as, for example, gas permeation through materials, evaporation by micro-leaks from the pump circuit or the contact extended between the product contained and certain complex materials of the device, as by example the pump valves, but these processes have very kinetic slow and have o therefore none influence during the period of use. However, the significant duration of storage can allow these slow processes to degrade progressive products which then risk being significantly denatured when they will be used.
It is therefore essential to ensure that the products contained in the flasks are perfectly protected against these degradation processes by avoiding more possible exchanges from the inside of the bottle to the outside as well as from the outside inward and throughout the storage phase, whatever its duration.
These degradation processes can occur through the vent necessary for any "airless" device since the function of this vent is precisely to allow only air outside comes into direct contact with the piston or the pocket thus inducing risk of oxidation of the product contained in the device.
They can also occur through micro-leaks, inevitable in the circuit of the pump which has many moving parts, and in particular by a default seal at the junction between the pump and the bottle or bag or even at pump valve level.
This latter risk is considerably aggravated when the product contained remains in prolonged contact with the pump inlet valve like this can be produce if the device is stored in a horizontal or vertical position reversed. Some ingredients contained in the valve materials, produced by nature in flexible material such as elastomers, can migrate into the product contained and modify its annoyingly composition. The reverse can also happen and ingredients contained in the product can migrate into the material of the valves, thus modifying their dimensional and mechanical properties. This process can then lead to a loss sealing of the pump valves and promote product degradation by contact with the external environment.
In all the models of dispenser bottles with manual pump mentioned above, the protection of the product contained in the bottle or pouch against the exterior is the same,

4 whether the bottle is in storage or in use. As indicated below above, it is important that good protection is ensured while especially during storage of the dispensing device before first use.
Certain security systems have been proposed to protect the content of a bottle or a pocket during storage. So the patent application \ NO
2001019217 described a hand pump bottle for dispensing substances each in one independent container so that they are not mixed before actuation of the pump. For this purpose, the opening of the containers is closed with a film so that the pump is held above the film by means of a locking ring which is removed before the first use. A similar device is described by the KR patents 200416576 and JP 2008030838.
summary The present invention specifically relates to a device for conditioning and dispenser for fluid products, with manual pump mounted on a bottle containing the product to distribute, or containing a pocket containing the product, allowing to reduce to minimum exchanges between the inside and outside of the device during the whole period between filling and first use.
The invention also relates to a safety device for a pump of a bottle dispenser of the above type, preventing accidental use of the pump during storage and allowing the end user to ensure that the product was not used or modified before he uses it himself.
The invention also relates to a dispenser bottle for fluid products including such a secure pump.
The expression "fluid product" used in the present application means a product not solid at ordinary temperature likely to flow out of a container the container, such as a liquid, a lotion, an emulsion, a paste, a gel, a product for spray, etc. These fluid products can be used in various fields techniques, and can be for example cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, products maintenance, etc.
According to an encompassing aspect, the invention relates to a packaging device and of distribution adapted to distribute a fluid product, the device comprising (i) a pump manual, (ii) a bottle on which the pump is mounted, the bottle having a collar and defining an interior to contain the product to be dispensed, (iii) a removable element sandwiched between the pump and the neck of the bottle, and (iv) a shutter, integral with the pump, and suitable for closing a circuit for passing the product to be distributed between the inside of the bottle and the pump when

5 the removable element is in place, the shutter being a moving element towards the inside from the bottle, where when the removable element is removed and the pump is moved by a user from storage position to final position of use, the circuit passage of the product to be distributed between the inside of the bottle and the pump is released.
More specifically, the removable element is placed between the base of the skirt of the pump and the shoulder formed in the neck of the bottle intended to receive the pump, by example by clipping or interlocking. Thus, this removable element keeps the pump in raised position in relation to the rigid bottle so that in this position, the shutter cooperates with the neck of the bottle or pocket to close the passage circuit 1.o of the product.
According to one embodiment, the removable element is constituted by a double U-section ring whose branches enclose the external faces and skirt internals of the pump, and whose base, connecting the two branches, is frangible.
The outer ring spreads the edge of the skirt from its operating position where it is in contact with the pass bottle. The tearing of the outer ring with rupture of the base connecting it to the internal ring, releases the pump which can be brought into its final position by operation.
According to another embodiment, the removable element consists of a ring simple enclosing the base of the external face of the skirt of the pump. For the first use sation, tearing off the ring as above releases the pump which can then to be put 20 in its final operating position.
The shutter is advantageously fixed on the base of the pump and is in contact watertight with the inside of the neck of the bottle or of the pocket containing the product, when the removable element is in place on the pump. According to a characteristic preferential of the invention, the shutter comprises at least one annular edge cooperating with the inner edge 25 of the pump support when the removable element is in place on the pump.
According to another characteristic, the removable element has a thickness such that a once this element has been removed, the pump can be pushed onto its support to to be put in definitively places and free up sufficient space between the shutter, integral with the pump, and the support, for the passage of the fluid.
30 According to a variant of the invention, the underside of the shutter can be coated a part or a film, for example a metal film impermeable to gases, whose effect of making this shutter impermeable to gases. The play or film metallic, by example a film containing aluminum foil, can advantageously be placed on the underside of the shutter or inserted into the thickness of this face lower which is 35 likely to come into contact with the product contained in the bottle or the pocket.

6 The device according to the present invention has the advantage of ensuring a good sealing between the inside and the outside of the bottle, or of the pocket if applicable if necessary so that outside air cannot enter nor through the vent when it is located in the pump ni through the pump circuit and reach the product contained in the bottle, or in the pocket, and that the product itself or certain ingredients it contains cannot flee by pump, before the first actuation of the pusher by the user.
In addition, when the removable element is in place on the pump, the shutter is in closed position and it then forms an insulating wall between the product finding in the bottle, or in the pocket, and the pump, which limits the volumes free above of the product and therefore limit possible evaporation of the product by pressure balance.
The presence of the removable element in place on the pump shows the user than the fluid product packaging and distribution device has not been used yet and therefore constitutes an indicator of the original quality of the product therein content.
In addition, when the shutter is in the closed position, the valves of the pump are completely isolated from the product contained in the bottle or pouch, allowing avoid any harmful interaction between the two during the entire period of storage.
The shutter being preferably made of the same material as the bottle or the pass of the pocket, this limits the number of materials of different natures susceptible to come into contact with the product to be distributed, during the entire period of storage.
The underside of the shutter can be sealed, i.e.
covered by a film, preferably in the same material as the pocket to avoid or limit any discontinuity of material in contact with the product contained in the bag during the period of storage before first use.
The pump used in the invention can advantageously be a so-called pump "airless", without air intake, comprising a piston which can move in the room of dosing under the action of a pusher, an inlet valve controlling the passage from the bottle to the chamber, and an outlet valve capable of closing the chamber.
The pump of the invention therefore comprises a conventional pump simply supplemented by two elements, namely the removable element placed on the periphery and the shutter at the pump base.
The implementation can be carried out very simply. The shutter and the element removable are pre-assembled at the pump so that during packaging, process filling the bag (or the bottle, if applicable) with the product, then we put just put the pump in place like any other pump, for example by clipping. When from the first use, the user tears off the removable element, by example by means a tab, and presses the pump, or on its push button, to bring it in his

7 final position. This movement has the effect of vertically moving the pump to the bottom and therefore the shutter attached to the base of the pump, and releasing the passage of bottle towards the pump to allow the extraction of the product contained in the pocket or in the bottle when the pump is activated.
If necessary, a protective cover can be provided over the pusher.
the pump, resting on the pump or on the bottle fixing ring.
The pump body is usually made of plastic material such than polypropylene of appropriate density to provide mechanical qualities wanted. The obtu-rateur can be of the same material as the pocket ring, and its face lower can wear a gas-impermeable patch or film, such as a sheet teaming up several layers of plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene, the polyethylene terephthalate (PET), EVOH (ethylene-alcohol copolymer vinyl presenting good gas barrier characteristics), and / or including a sheet aluminum metallic.
lb The bottle rigid can be made for example of any suitable material such as polyethylene or polypropylene of appropriate density to give it the properties mechanical desired. The end of the pump outlet nozzle can be provided with a additional closure system in any suitable flexible material and elastic, and preferably made of nitrile, butyl, silicone or TPE elastomer.
The flexible bag can be manufactured by injection-blowing or by extrusion-blowing, for example from low density polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, EVOH copolymer, or by welding, on a support, of a multilayer film, or of a film metal coated with plastic film. The material forming the pocket can be chosen in depending on the nature of the product which must be contained therein. So a low density polyethylene generally suitable for products little sensitive to the action of air surrounding while that a metallic film coated with a plastic film is better suited to a product sensitive to oxidation.
Brief description of the drawings An example of embodiment of a pump dispenser bottle without air intake, or "airless'", according to the present invention is described below with reference at drawings attached which represent:
Figure 1: an axial sectional view showing a pocket bottle equipped with the device of the invention.
Figure 2: a detailed partial sectional view of part D of Figure 1 Figure 3: a sectional view of the device shown in Figure 2.

8 Figure 4: a sectional view of the detail of the pump shutter.
Figure 5: a sectional view of a variant of the shutter of Figure 4 completed with a seal.
Figure 6: a sectional view of the pocket bottle of Figure 1 after removal of the locking device.
Figure 7: a partial sectional view of the detail of Figure 2 after removal of locking device.
Figure 8: a sectional view of the shutter of Figure 4 after unlocking.
Figure 9: an axial sectional view of a variant of the pocket-bottle of Figure 1.
Figure 10: a partial sectional view of the detail of the attachment of the ring of the bottle-pocket shown in Figure 9.
Detailed description of the achievements Variants, examples and preferred embodiments of the invention are described .. below. Figure 1 shows a rigid bottle (1) carrying a pump without return air (2) actuated by a pusher (3), mounted on a ring (4) snapped into the bottle neck rigid (1) and secured to the neck of the wall pocket (5) flexible and deformable containing the product to distribute.
The pump (2) is conventionally connected to the outlet nozzle (6) provided .. in the pusher (3) in order to extract the product contained in the pocket (5).
The pocket is closed in its lower part by the cup (7) tightly fixed to the flexible wall (5).
The skirt (8) of the pump (2) is capable of coming into contact, through the edge

(9) of his base, with the shoulder (10) formed on the internal face of the neck of the rigid bottle (1) when the .. pump is in the operating position shown in Figure 6.
In this position, the pump (2) is supported on the ring (4).
In the storage position shown in Figure 1, a ring (11) is interposed between the pump (2) and the neck of the bottle (1) to maintain the edge (9) of the skirt (8) of the pump at a determined distance from the shoulder (10). This ring surrounds the base of .. the skirt (8) of the pump and prevents it from being positioned in order to be able be activated.
This ring (11) is removable and can be removed by pulling on a tab (12), shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, projecting from the surface of the bottle (1), allowing tear off the ring made of plastic such as polyethylene. As show it Figure 3, the ring has a U-shaped section whose two branches apply against the faces external and internal of the lower part of the skirt (8) of the pump. The base (11a) connecting the two branches of the ring (11) is frangible and can break when the user pulls on the tongue (12).
The base of the pump (2) comprises a shutter (13) whose outer edge comes in tight contact with the internal edge of the ring (4). These two pieces are consistent to ensure a good seal and prevent any passage of product from the pocket (5) towards the pump (2) and any passage of gas from the outside via the pump to the bag, as the shows more precisely Figure 4. Openings (14) are formed in the base of the pump to let the product pass out of the pocket (5) when the pusher (3) is actuated, the pump being in the operating position, but in the represented ù on the Figure 1, the ring (11) being in place and the pump (2) being in position raised, the circuit for passing the product from the bag to the pump via the openings (14) is closed by the contact between the internal edge of the ring (4) and the shutter (13).
We see that in this raised position of the pump (2), the shutter (13) form one insulating wall between the inside of the pocket (5) containing the product to distribute and pump.
Sealing is ensured by contact between the outer edge of the shutter (13) and the edge inner ring (4). The product in the pocket is therefore perfectly insulated from the outside.
A cover (15) is provided above the pusher (3) to close the assembly.
Figure 5 shows the detail of a variant of the shutter (13) in position of c closing by tight contact with the ring (4). The underside of the shutter (13) is coated with a cover (16), preferably produced in the form of a film same material than the pocket (5). This avoids any discontinuity of material between the pocket (5) and the shutter (13) and the product contained in the pocket is in contact only with only one matter.
When the ring (11) is removed by the user by tearing off the tab (12), the pump (2) can be put in its final position by pushing it in such a way so the edge (9) of the skirt (8) comes into contact with the shoulder (10) formed in the wall of bottle (1) and the base of the pump comes to bear on the ring (4), in the position shown in Figure 6.
As shown in Figure 7, in this position the lower edge of the cover protector (15) comes into contact with the upper edge of the neck of the bottle (1).
In this position, the shutter (13) is spaced from the ring (4) supporting the pump and enters the pocket (5), thereby freeing the openings (14) for the passage of the product of the pocket towards the pump when the pusher (3) is actuated, as shown more detail in Figure 8.

10 On the variant embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 9, and more detail in Figure 10, the removable element consists of a simple ring (17) comprising a primer (12) for tearing it off. In the position shown on the face 9, the pump is raised via the ring (17) relative to its position final functioning.
When this ring (17) is completely removed by the user during the first use, no obstacle remains under the base of the skirt (8) of the pump, which can be positioning, releasing the shutter and the passage from the pocket to the pump.

Claims (9)

1. Packaging and dispensing device suitable for dispensing a product fluid, the device comprising (i) a manual pump, (ii) a bottle on which is mounted the pump, the bottle having a neck and defining an interior to contain the produced at distribute, (iii) a removable element inserted between the pump and the neck of the vial, and (iv) a shutter, integral with the pump, and suitable for closing a passage circuit from product to distribute between the inside of the bottle and the pump when the removable element is in place, the shutter being an element moving towards the inside of the bottle, where when the element removable is removed and the pump is moved by a user from one position storage in a final position of use, the circuit for passing the product through distribute between the inside of the bottle and the pump is released. 2. Device according to claim 1, wherein the removable element is placed between a base of a pump skirt and a shoulder formed in the neck of the bottle. 3. Device according to claim 1, wherein the pump comprises the element removable placed on a periphery of the pump and the shutter fixed to a base of the pump. 4. Device according to claim 1, wherein the shutter comprises at least one annular edge cooperating with an internal edge of a pump support when the element removable is in place on the pump. 5. Device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein a face lower than the shutter is coated with a gas-impermeable part or film. 6. Device according to claim 5, wherein the film is a film metallic placed on the underside of the shutter or inserted into the thickness of this face lower. 7. Device according to claim 2, wherein the removable element is consisting of a double U-section ring whose branches enclose external faces and internal of the pump skirt, including a base connecting the two branches is frangible. 8. Device according to claim 2, wherein the removable element is consisting of a simple ring enclosing an external face of the base of the skirt of the pump. 9. Device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a base of the pump comprises openings released by the shutter when the removable element is removed and the pump is moved by the user from the storage position to the position final use.